Biography
B. Johansen was an IWW member from Sacramento prosecuted under California criminal-syndicalism law and sentenced to four years. He was documented at San Quentin as prisoner 38364 in the June1925 birthday notice and in his own letter dated June 3, 1926. His exact physical release date remains unverified. The source also uses the spelling B. Johanson.
Contemporary Sacramento criminal-syndicalism report
The Lithuanian-language Laisvė of September 18, 1923, page 1, reports that a Sacramento jury found five IWW members guilty under California’s criminal-syndicalism law. It names A. G. Ross, Al. Grantland, B. Johanson, Chris Peterson and Robert Woods. Judge Busick is reported as stating that membership itself constituted the offense. The report says they had been arrested after acknowledging IWW membership while testifying for another defendant.
The original prints B. Johanson, matching this profile’s documented alternate spelling; the native text’s initial E is an OCR error. The incorrect generic Espionage/Sedition Act charge is therefore replaced with the specific California charge. The publication does not give an exact arrest or verdict day, sentence term, prison admission or actual release, so none is inferred from its publication date. Existing custody-date conflicts are not resolved by this source.
Laisvė, September 18, 1923, page 1, Five Convicted for Belonging to the IWW Union.
A signed letter dated June 3, 1926 from San Quentin identifies B. Johansen as prisoner 38364. This proves continuing imprisonment after the inherited 1925release year, which therefore cannot be his final release for this interval. The actual discharge date remains unresolved; neither publication nor letter date is entered as release.
